The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1887-04-21
STUDENTS "STIFFS.'
HOW DlssEcTlNe MATERIAL IS
UTILIZED IN A MEDICAL COLLEGE.

|
vation of n Corpse by Means of En-
balming TIuid-Scenes in the Dissectlng
Room.
When Janitor Hicks and Assistant Mike
had rolled all the barrels into the inject
ing room they took down half dozen OF
the shelves and placcG them on the floor.
After removing cadaver from barrel
they laid it ont on the shelf, and then
raised the shelf to table, where they left
| 1t and turned to the next subject. Before
all the barrels were eInptied they found
that there was not room on the tables for
oil of them, and Hicks accordingly pro-
ceedctl to embalm those already laid out.
He performed this task precisely as he had
hundrc l., of times before. He took down
O gigantic piston syringe and filled it with
a solution of plaster OF paris. This done,
he laid the syringe aside for n moment
while he made an incision with surgeons
knife into. the carotid artery of the calayer
To get still further from technical terms
he cut a cash in the artery that runs up
the neck where one may feel strong
pulse beat. There are two of these arte-
ries, and Hicks, following his ancient in
structions, cut the left carotid. Some blood
flowed, but not much. Next he inserted
the end of the syringe in the cash and
into the severed artery. Then followed a
hard push on the piston, which sent the
embalming fluid all through the body, 1t
was evident very quickly, for the solution
Is pink, and in moment the arteries in
all parts Of the body could be traced bya
pink line.
It Is wonderful bow thorough this work
is; generally one injection of the solution
serves the purpose, and at the most two
arc sufficient. Sufficient for what? To
Keep the body in q state of preservation
/, or the month or more that elapses before
the students get through with it. The
embalmng properly done, Hicks and Mike
lifted the Shelf with the cadayer on it to a
place against the wall. There it was left
| entirely nude and unmarked except by its
own blood from the accidental and intend
| led lacerations it had undergone. Appar-
| emily it did not occur to Hicks or Mike to
| wonder what name it had borne in life.
They are no respectors of identity. But
they represent their employers and do
their work in methotlical, busincsslike
way, and the room they work in knows
nothing of sex; it is not recognized in in
animate flesh The cadaver which stopped
breathing no more perhaps than thirty
| hours ago, and which was called o woman
until the heart ceased to beat, comes to
the injecting room simply as q structure
of flesh, bones, nerves, tissues, limbs and
organs; it is pulled by main strength
from its barrel, gashed at the carotid ar
| terry, injected with solution of plaster of
paris, laid on its shelf to wait its turn,
uncovered and unconsidered, unless some
| idle thought is bestowed upon it, as if the
| emballner were to wonder what student
would be lucky enough to get the head.
IN TIE D1ssEcT1NG ROOM.
When Hicks and Mike had emptied all
the barrels and embalmed oil the cadavers
they set about the next step in the pro-
gress Of the subject for dissection. This
was to transport the cadavers to the dis
| secting room up stairs. To do this they
| required the assistance of q student who
was at work in the building. A rope was
cast about the upper part of dead body
| and tied under the arms. One man took
| hold of the end Of the rope and the other
| Of the legs and trunk, and in this way,
with good deal of jolting against the
walls and stumbling on the stairs, they
| got their burden into the dissecting room.
It takes about three weeks for body to
60 through the dissecting room. AS the
tables are kept pretty well supplied,
| it generally happens that cadaver has to
wait few days in the injecting room for
| a vacancy. When this occurs the profess
sor of anatomy posts q notice in the col
lege to this effect: "Material for dissec-
ton will be furnished to the following
| gentlemen on - day."
/ - Thar, fo11o1pc LIST of Etudpnfa whose
| turn is to avail themselves of the invalua-
BE privileges offered by the institution in
its dissecting room. From the list of stu
dents anybody can tell how many fresh
| cadayers have been brought in, for the
| number of men on the list will always be
multiple Of five, and dividing this num-
| Der by five will give the number of cadav-
ers. When the students report for mate
rial each one pays the clerk of the college
81. This is not obligatory, and man is
not compelled either to accept dissecting
material when his name is posted or pay
his fee. Most of the students, however,
are eager to avail themselves of the op-
portunities. The fee of 81 entities the
| student to one part Of tho cadaver, which
is divided into five parts-the head, the
| right arm, the left arm, the right leg and
the left leg. Discrimination as to the dis
tribution Of the respective parts is made
according to priority of application.
REMOVING DEBRIS.
| Five students then work together on q
cadaver. They may do all the work ut
the appointed table in the dissecting room,
or, rs many do, they may take their part
home and cut it up there. Cases have oc-
Cured, though in violation of a rule,
where a student, desiring to take adyan-
tage of q brief vacation and yet unwilling
| to lose time altogether in his study, has
| packed an arm or head into travelling
/ bag and carried it with him into another
state, and cut it up there in the intervals
of family fluctuations and reunions. If
they do their dissccting outside of the col
lege building they make such disposition
| of the refuse rs seems to them fit; most
of them burn it. The refuse is, of course,
the tegument, muscles, arteries, etc.,